Photo Story

I had a learning experience with V! Remember there are two ways save!!

Audio

Wow! I learned that if you have trouble loading an audacity then save it add an image and make a photo story.

Life is in the details

My new elementary school was given a face lift this summer. New paint, carpet and tile (in most places) will greet students when they arrive next week. However people are missing little things that are important to them and a large pile of unclaimed items resides on top of a shelf in the library. We all spend time looking for a remote or a missing cable and things that are really important tend to show up by the end of the day.

I have been wondering what details will the students notice when they arrive.

After two intense days unpacking the library with faculty in the building, I must admit that a couple of teachers probably walked away unimpressed by the "new librarian." Oh well, the learning curve I am in is pretty steep with regards to where their remotes might be hiding, but I have a couple of things up my sleeve I know they will be impressed with and if not... I make a great brownie!

Thing 23

I have finished 23 Things, but by no means am I finished with learning.

My favorite discoveries in this journey were Google Reader, Google Docs, Photo Story and creating my blog. It is hard to narrow down because I feel that I discovered a lot of things I will use such as delicious – I have used that everyday since I learned about it. One of the best things for me was to exercise my mind and continue on my learning journey. Since I am a digital immigrant, I must keep learning.

This program was a great assistant to my lifelong learning goals and just reinforces my desire to learn more about technology that can assist me in my daily life.

There were tons of take-a-ways in this program, actually too many to list. I can’t say that there were any unexpected outcomes from this program that surprised me because my expectations with any thing related to the SBISD library program are quite high and were only reinforced by this program.

Improvements in the program could only come in marketing ways to convince other teachers/librarians to take the program. The program took me more than the 18 professional development awarded. I am probably about average – not as fast as some learning technology and not as slow as others. So maybe convince the powers at be that this program will help teachers do the job they need to do and one way to get the teachers to buy in would be to award a few more hours – say 24.

If you offered another discovery program like this I would definitely take it.

Since I have begun to use daily the “things” I learned in 23 Things I would describe it as life altering. (which is way more than I can say about 90% of the inservices I have taken since I became a teacher). Thanks for the opportunity!

Thing Ning (#22)

Sorry about the title, I just couldn't resist. I think nings are things of the future. List serves would be the things of the past. I have learned a lot from list serves, but I hate how they clog up my email. This is similar information in a different format that is at another location. I like this better because it feels more like a help that a responsibility to clean out my email. Now that I am thinking about it the list serve does have a way to opt out of the email and I should have done that!

Anyway, I joined 2 communities of learners this morning so I am bound to learn something new today!

Thing 21

This is a powerful tool! It was fun to create this and once the images are collected it really didn’t take too long. I desperately need a new microphone! Even though I went through the syncing process, I couldn’t get the voice loud enough. Also, as far as citing places where I got the pictures… I should have created one ppt slide with all the details and saved it as a jpg and showed it at the end. Oh, well I will add it on another day!

Still working on Thing 20

This is a 4 minute video that a teacher made to begin his unit on the solar system. I thought it was creative because he gives instructions to his 5th grade students for working. He obviously embedded this video within a unit that the kids were working through mostly independently. Very creative! He must be a 23 Things graduate!

I didn't know about Blinx which I found most helpful. The two previous posts were examples of requested videos that I couldn't find or it was taking too long to find them because I didn't even realize there were resources that searched through all the videos out there. This is a "aahh" moment because I should really know by now (I am on thing 20, geez) that there are search engines for EVERYTHING. With the two jumproping videos I tried to embed them but wasn't successful... I am sure I am just doing something wrong, but the teachertube embedding was very easy. Just like teachers to make things easy for people!

Take two, still practicing...

Blinkx Video: Floyd Mayweather Jump Rope routine

Posted using ShareThis

LISTEN TO THIS BEFORE USING WITH STUDENTS! GREAT BEAT, BUT YOU MIGHT NOT LIKE THE LYRICS!

Take one, practicing

Blinkx Video: Jumping Rope w/Kim Strother Pt.2

Posted using ShareThis

Thing 19

I looked at a variety of sites and happily noticed that a number of the ones I really like are award winners. I roamed around G.ho.st which is a desktop operating system that is online offering the user 5MB of space for free and more space for a monthly charge. I could see high school students or teachers who are given a limited amount of network space using this site to “hold” some of their items that are larger.

I also looked at one of the education sites (.Docstoc). This site had some useful parts for adults looking to learn about different things like embedding a video (kids might need this, too!) or writing a will. I thought it would be more teacher-like documents, but it wasn’t or I didn’t look far enough into it. I did find a nice ppt about the story arch of a hero that any high school English class could use so I guess there were parts that a teacher could use.

Now I shall play and create a new avatar!

Tomorrow more "things."

Thing 18

I love Google Docs for myself and I see a lot of advantages for teams of teachers who routinely work together. I love the fact that I can work on my home computer on a document, go to school or any other place and be able to access that document. It is like a flash drive I don’t have to keep up with. At my old school we were always tweaking things and then sometimes we would forget who stored it where. It would have been nice if we would have known about this and been able to share some documents with others so during a discussion one team member could be making the changes and then the document could be “shared” with others.

I could see students using it when working on a group project when they aren’t really able to work at the same place or perhaps editing each other’s work. Come to think of it, this would have greatly helped me during my online library course’s group projects because partners were always emailing each other back and forth the paper. That way it would be there to work on and the other person could work on it also.

I think if a lot of people were working on their section of the same document each individual would need to be careful to not change another person’s part. For instance if orders for a lunch take out were being developed on a spread sheet and I was mad at JoeSmo because he never returns the COWs to the pasture then I might change his lunch order to a spinach wrap because I know that he really likes roast beef sandwiches. Not that I would do that, but anyone who reads this needs to make sure the COWs are returned to the pasture in a timely fashion!

Thing 17

Bruce’s video was great. A lot of buffering going on because it took ffoorreevveerr to watch it, but it was worth the wait.

I created a small collection of links to author’s websites that wrote books that were included on this year’s Bluebonnet list. I think this could actually be something to use in a writing activity (perhaps writing the author of a student’s favorite book on the list). I like the idea of having an easy access with a list, but I don’t like all the extra stuff like other sites and advertisements on the right. I would like it if it was simply educational instead of servicing both the general public and educators. Like a teacher tube only a rollyteacher.

http://rollyo.com/search.html?q=bluebonnet+authors&sid=448700

Thing 16

Now that I have had a couple of days off and am looking ahead towards the weekend, I am ready to tackle some more "things"!

Aww, wikis.
I am still debating about how I would/could use a wiki in an elementary library…. I can see the comments about book that they might recommend or comments about bluebonnet books – kind of like a mini review. Lists of websites students found helpful for different reoccurring projects might be another useful addition. I am also wondering about the time devoted to checking student’s posts so I would have to think of requirements for ways I could track the posts.

Thing Whatever

Today at "new" teacher inservice I hit information overload. Luckily it was about 2 hours after everyone else in the room so I was keeping cool and trying to be a calming influence in the storm. It reminded me what it is like for kids when they have had enough. So, tonight there will be no "thing" work/play. I am going to putz around my house and watch the olympics. Tomorrow the "things!"

Thing 15

The teachertube video “A Vision of Students Today” is a perfect illustration why school libraries need to embrace Library 2.0. Constant change as a developmental cycle has become reality because today’s students have undergone a radical change much like learners probably underwent in the mid 1800s after the invention of the blackboard! If this digital tourist is going to be able to interact, educate and inspire the digital natives in my building (students and younger teachers), I need to know the language and be able to communicate. It means that school libraries need to provide users with information in mediums that the users desire at times of need – not just when the library is open.

I really appreciated Rick Anderson’s phrase “just in case collection.” Yesterday, I was unpacking the backroom at the library and so many of the things are old and pass their usefulness (such as stamps of base ten blocks that are hard to see and can now be clearly pasted on a worksheet) and should have never been packed up and I found myself thinking… “well, I guess someone might use it this year” We (librarians and teachers) need to remember we are educating students to hold jobs that haven’t been developed yet. Let’s keep changing with the world and our students and providing them with the tools to learn, create and enjoy

Thing 14

Technorati feels a little voyeuristic to me. I learned that BoingBoing is the most popular blog by fans and Arianna Huffington has the most authority. Having seen her on Bill Maher, I don’t know if I agree, but it was interesting poking around. I didn’t like how you could see other’s members who subscribed to that site. I understand that that helps with the social aspect and learning from others, for instance, if Doug Johnson subscribed to a particular site I might find it interesting and a learning experience, but sometimes people keep an eye on things for different reasons. For example, I have a very good friend who is a strong democrat and so is her husband, but he holds a membership in the Republican Party so he can get their mailings and other literature. I believe I will stick with del.icio.us. I love the organizational aspect of that! Below are the hits I got for the searches requested on thing 14. I bet they change daily!

1402 hits for School Library 2.0 blog posts
53 hits for School Library 2.0 in blog directory
38 hits for School Library 2.0 in tags

Thing 13

This is way cool! Just this morning I thought “How am I going to get all my frequently used bookmarked sites from my personal laptop to my new SBISD laptop?” Talk about point of need! I love Del.icio.us! Now no matter where I am I can get my bookmarks and there are no more wondering what folder I put it in or what I was working on. I think it will be great when identifying sites for research especially since some sites are good in more than one area and the use of tags allow for this instead of putting things in a particular folder.

I am having a bit more of a problem thinking about or understanding how to take advantage of it as a social bookmarking site other than I can see what others’ have bookmarked with similar tags which could be potentially very helpful opening up a world of other sites to me.

Thing 12

Building a community through blogging isn’t really something I have spent much time thinking about but now it seem perfectly obvious. I completed all the course work for my school library certificate online through UNT and never once did I feel like I was alone. A number of people have commented to me that they couldn’t learn without others around them, but that is exactly how I felt. Through the use of posts, emails, blogs, and “villages,” I never felt I was learning alone. Now I see that commenting on others’ blogs are an extension of that learning community. This is my new learning community now that I have finished the certification because I still need to learn a lot!

So… two things I found very essential when making comments were to make comments meaningful and that it was possible to write in a way which encouraged comments. These two things got me thinking about keeping some type of record of my first year as a librarian. I had been thinking about how I wanted to do this but now I am wondering what all of you wished you would have done your first year as a librarian. So, let me know – What do you wish you would have done your first year as a school librarian?

Back to the requirements… I commented on a number of blogs from Library2Play (which I have visited a number of different ones since I have begun 23 Things) and one of the other blogs outside the community is Book Addiction which happened to have a post about graphic novels for children – an area that needs to be expanded in the library where I will be working next school year – sweet!

Now, I have promised myself a few minutes with Breaking Dawn!

Thing 11

LibraryThing is great and REALLY just as simple as they say it is! I added 4 books I have read at least in part in the last two months, 1 all time favorite and 1 I want to read in under a couple of minutes. In the past I kept up with a lot of the children's lit books I read by copying the cover and writing on the back and keep them in a binder. The binder is getting kind of big and it would be helpful to have cross references (tags!). I could really see using this when remembering books to recommend to kids (the answer to "What's a good book?") I looked through the groups but decided I am doing too many things right now to join a group or even watch one. Perhaps in a couple of months, ha! Great site!

Thing 10 (part 2)

Okay, day I just spent less than 15 minutes with Image Chef and created a cute image. I found this one to be the most user friendly or maybe I am just feeling more creative today. I think if I were to use this with students I would want them to have a set image or a few to pick from that they were going to use and give them a set amount of play time at the end of class to play with the shaved head or something else that is "cooler" or I can see no one finishing because it is so interesting seeing your words wiped out by a wave or written on someone's back!

Thing 10

I played with a number of the different sites. One from the Comic Strip Generator was very cute, but the image couldn't be generated due to use. I bet if kids had spent as much time thinking about a clever saying, fixing the font just right, etc they would really be ticked! Luckily, I am an adult, can swear a bit, bookmark the site and go mow the lawn! We will see if it is generated later and I will post it.

It definately helps if you know what you want to say and have all your images gathered! Otherwise I found myself burning time. I will check back later!

Thing 9

Which method of finding feeds did you find easiest to use? If I knew it about what I wanted to find then Blogline or Google Blog was very easy to use. If I didn't REALLY know what I was looking for then it was a lot of hunting and checking.

Which Search tool was the easiest for you? I thought the easiest to use was Edublog because the topics were listed and the ones voted "best" had been identified.

Which was more confusing? Syndic8 was more confusing and since it was towards the end I spent the least amount of time on it.

What kind of useful feeds did you find in your travels? Or what kind of unusual ones did you find?

Thing 8

After setting up my Google Reader here are the answers to the 3 questions we were asked to ponder...

I like how the information in RSS and newsreaders come to the user instead of the user looking through different bookmarked or favorite sites to see what others are "up to."

The uses of this technology in school or personal life are endless, but will take a bit of adjusting of habits. I immediately went to adding subscriptions to people's blogs that I regularly check and a couple of websites I regularly check. I even went to a musician's site that I haven't seen in awhile but want to and added that site. Now I hope I use it regularly to keep up with everything.

Libraries can take advantage of this new technology by used it to keep current of the changes in the field of information science services, curriculum changes, educational law and in educating the library's users in how to have a newsreader help them in their daily life.

Thing 7

Google is amazing in the way that it has linked and helped people around the world. I spent time with Google Doc creating a new business card for my new job. Google Docs could have saved me a great amount of headaches had I only known about it last year. I can imagine using that a lot in collaboration with other teachers and librarians. I created the beginnings of a calendar to integrate my personal life with my school life - I am already pretty good at keeping two calendars but sometimes it helps if I can see the big picture. Then I spent WAY too much time playing with iGoogle.

Thing 6

It amazes me how smart and creative people can be. I like the idea of trading cards or personalized name tags. Very cute and creative. I selected one of the authors on the Bluebonnet list but after searching a good 30 minutes (I gave myself a time limit) I couldn't locate a picture of her. I used a book cover instead.

Thing 5

Flickr is a wonderful way to waste time just browsing. I use it best when I have a goal in mind. I am still unsure how to give credit to the photographer. Do we post a website where we copied the picture? I selected an image of improperly shelved books.

Thing 4

Thanks to the kickball captain for the email entering me into the 23 Things group. Thanks for the extra days. Let's see how long it takes me to finish!

Thing # 3

Creating my avatar was a lot of fun! I didn't know whether to go with the real me... or... the fantasy me! Notice my new school's mascot? Go Bulldogs!

Thing # 2

After viewing 7 1/2 Habits, I would have to say that habits 2 and 3 are the easiest for me. I have always enjoyed being responsible for my own learning. I have a natural tendency to NOT look before I leap so I have had to adopt the idea that problems are just another thing to overcome. The hardest habits for me would be habits 1/2 playing and 4 involving confidence. I tend to be pretty serious about most things although I have a well developed sense of humor, but I must remind myself to find the fun or play in life. The lack of confidence tends to make me work a little longer and harder than I usually need to, but throughout life that has served me well, so far!